Hugging Face Launches $399 Microduck Open Source AI Robot for Developers

Hugging Face has introduced Microduck, a small open-source robot designed to help developers experiment with physical artificial intelligence. The duck-shaped robot is priced at $399 and is expected to ship before Christmas.

Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue described Microduck as an open-source robot that developers can teach new behaviours through reinforcement learning. The 25-centimetre-tall robot can walk, pick up objects with its beak, recover after falling, crouch, and perform actions such as roller skating.

“Welcome to the era of open-source affordable robots to democratise physical AI and world models,” Delangue said in a post announcing the robot.

Microduck brings open-source AI into physical robotics

Hugging Face is best known as a platform where developers share and access open AI models. Still, the company has expanded into robotics hardware through its 2025 acquisition of the French startup Pollen Robotics.

The acquisition helped Hugging Face build affordable open-source robotics products, including Reachy Mini, a small desktop robot available in two versions. The company is now expanding that approach with Microduck, targeting developers interested in training and modifying physical AI systems.

Microduck uses a camera, lidar sensors, and two inertial measurement units to understand movement and interact with its environment. Pollen Robotics said the robot’s behaviours can be trained in simulation before being deployed directly onto the hardware.

Developers can fine-tune the robot, retrain its models, and redeploy new behaviours. The company is providing the software development kit, simulation tools, and reinforcement learning training stack through GitHub. Open-source robotics raises privacy questions.

Hugging Face has argued that open-source robotics can provide developers with greater visibility and control than closed systems. However, open source models alone do not guarantee privacy once additional applications are installed on top of the technology.

Because Microduck uses cameras and other sensors, software running on the robot could access the collected data, depending on how developers build their applications and connect to external services.

Microduck arrives as Hugging Face expands AI hardware efforts

The Microduck launch comes as Hugging Face continues to build its role in open-source AI hardware and robotics. The company has also reportedly attracted acquisition interest from Nvidia, which has partnered with Hugging Face on AI infrastructure and open-source initiatives.

Hugging Face has recently faced attention over a cybersecurity incident involving AI safety testing, after an AI system accessed the company’s infrastructure during an evaluation. The incident added to broader discussions around securing AI systems as they become more capable and connected.

With Microduck, Hugging Face aims to make physical AI experimentation more accessible by offering developers a low-cost platform to build and test robotic behaviours.